Improvement in fire-escapes



'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES l?. KENYON, OF SELMA, NORTH CAROLINA, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND J. W. SHARP, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEM ENT IN FIRE-ESCAPES..V

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 112,928, dated March 21, 1871.

To all whom fit may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES P. KENYON, ot' Selma, in the county ot' Johnson and State of North Carolina, have invented a new and Improved Fire-Escape; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawing, forming part of this specification.

Figure 1 represents a side view ot' in vimproved lire-escape. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sec` lby a safe means of escape.

A in the drawing represents a post, made of cast-iron or other suitable material, and provided with a spiral groove or channel, a, that extends from end to end, as shown.

On the ends of this post are formed projecting an ges b b, which have perforations at the ends of the channel a, and which are or may be connected by means ot' wrought or malleable iron or other rods B B, as shown.

C is a rope, drawn through the channel a., and thereby bound spirally around the post A. This rope should have a hook at each end. One end should be fastened to the window-sill, or to some safe article in the room or place from which the escape is to be made, and the rope is left hanging out of the Window, the post being near its upper end.

The person wishin g to escape holds fast to the post, or ties himself by mea-ns ot' a cord, D, to the same, or sits in a loop formed by said cord and slides gradually down on the rope C.

The person can regulate the velocity of the descent at will, and the descent must be slow 011 account of the large amount of friction produced by the sliding post on the rope.

If there is another person in the same place, he or she may haul up the rope, fasten the other hook, loosen the rst, and then will have the post again at the upper end ready -for the descent.

I do not claim a tire-escape in which the rope passes over pins or through a bent tube; but,

/Havin g thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- The reescape consisting of the post A, which is provided with the spiral channel a and anges b b, and with or without the rods B, substantially as herein shown and described.

E. R. Mosman, J. W.v GOLYER. 

